Catherine Rinaldi was born on May 3, 1939 in Brooklyn, New York.  Her parents, Nicholas and Catherine Kushner, were originally from Pennsylvania --- Catherine from Pittsburgh and Nicholas from Wilkes-Barre -- but moved to New York after Nicholas, an electrical engineer, accepted a job with Con Edison.  Catherine was younger than her three siblings -- Bob, Bill, and Mary Lou (also known as Sal) -- and as a result, spent much of her teen years taking care of her many nieces and nephews.  She was a basketball player, and one of her most notorious childhood stories related to the time she broke her mother's china cabinet playing basketball in the house.  Her family lived in several neighborhoods in Brooklyn before settling in Bay Ridge, and she was a proud graduate of Fontbonne Academy in Bay Ridge.  She went on to attend St John's University, where she met Frank Rinaldi.  After several years of dating, Frank and Catherine were married on November 17, 1962.  For the first several years of her marriage, Catherine, who had a way with children, was a middle school teacher in the New York City school system.  She used to say that the most effective teachers were strict at the beginning of the school year to show the kids who was boss, and after having established who was boss, could then go a little easier on the kids if they so chose.

In teaching and in life, Catherine took this lesson to heart.  She was always the boss.  She was a force of nature, with strong opinions about people and the world and what was right and what was wrong.  She went to daily Mass and never missed a holy day of obligation.  Over the years, she never stopped learning and taking on new challenges.  As an adult, she became an expert golfer, played tennis, made jewelry, learned photography and decorative painting, played bridge and canasta, was a regular at water aerobics, and active in her book club.  She went to concerts and the theater and loved to travel.  Over the years, she went to Bermuda, to Paris, to Italy, to England, to Spain, to Russia and Eastern Europe, to Istanbul, and Alaska.  One highlight was the month she and her daughter Cathy spent driving a new car around France in the early 1980s.  The car broke down in a tunnel under Mont Blanc, but she never lost her cool.  She was fearless.  

Catherine had two children, Cathy and Frank.  Being a family of four with only two names could sometimes be confusing, but this confusion was addressed by calling Catherine "Big Cath" and her daughter "Little Cath" and the two Franks, "Big Frank" and "Little Frank."  Big Cath was fiercely protective of both her children.  When they were bullied, she stepped in.  A legendary family story is about the time Frank was being bullied at the bus stop when he was little, and she chased the bullies in her car.  She had courage, and she taught her children courage.  She knew what was important in life -- love of family, loyalty to friends, compassion for those who need help, forgiveness to those who ask for it -- and she passed this knowledge down to her children.  She was endlessly proud of her children and their achievements and loved her daughter-in-law Kerry and son-in-law Jose.  She adored her grandchildren Luke, Reese, Quinn (who called her "Darling" when he was little instead of "Grandma"), and Paulo.  She loved going to their sporting events and Quinn's orchestra concerts and was so proud of Luke and Reese when they graduated high school and went on to college -- Luke to Duke and Reese to University of Florida.   

Catherine had many plans when she died.  She was going to sign up for the nine-holers at Tequesta Country Club.  She had tickets to Luke's graduation from Duke in May.  She had plans to go to Venice next March.  She never let up, never let go, always wanting to do more and see more.

More than anything else, she was a loving partner to Frank, her husband of almost 63 years.  They built a wonderful life together, gradually expanding their circle of New York friends to include the dear new friends that they made in Florida.  Whether it was traveling to Bermuda with John and Flo, or to Spain with Ralph and Sheila, they always had a rich and varied social life, woven through with lifelong friendships.  Their devotion to each other was an inspiration to their friends and family.  After all those years of marriage, they still held hands.  They had traditions and rituals that made their life together so special and meaningful -- trips to the beach for pizza after 5PM Mass in Huntington, walks on the golf course after dinner, a season ticket package at the Maltz Theater in Jupiter, anniversary dinners at Cafe L'Europe.  Their life together was an extraordinary gift to each other and to everyone who knew them.  

Please say a prayer for an extraordinary woman who, even at the age of 86, is gone much too soon.  Good-bye, Darling.